Coronation Street’s Lauren Bolton (Cait Fitton) hasn’t had the easiest life, has she? In fact, it’s been pretty rough.
She was born to Reece Bolton, member of an incredibly grim far-right extremist gang, who indoctrinated his daughter into his warped way of thinking, and proudly displayed her as a centrepiece of the insidious organisation.
Our Lauren crash landed onto the cobbles as the far-right group attempted to groom Max Turner (Paddy Bever) into joining them, becoming his girlfriend.
When the group were eventually busted and locked up, Lauren returned to Weatherfield and found employment at the café, alongside the perennial champion of underdogs, Roy Cropper (David Neilson).
Things didn’t get easier for her, though, and she later got involved with evil solicitor Joel Deering (Calum Lill), one of Weatherfield’s most vile villains, and became pregnant with his child, before eventually bashing his head in.
A relatively quiet period for Lauren came afterward, which was probably a blessing in disguise after the poor girl had been through utter hell.
Then she met Ollie Driscoll (Raphael Akuwudike).
Ollie’s a perfect match for Lauren: dependable, kind and protective, yet with enough fire of his own to compete with her seemingly unending supply of feistiness.
There were complications, though. Initially, Ollie’s grandma, Maggie Driscoll (Pauline McLynn) was having none of it, thinking barmaid Lauren was far below the standards she’d personally set for the offspring of her offspring.
Maggie manipulated and schemed to keep the two apart and saw success in scuppering their relationship. In fairness, Lauren got off lucky, what with Maggie’s propensity for throwing her enemies down flights of stairs.
But suddenly, Maggie became Lauren’s biggest fan, desperate to unite her and Ollie. The reason? Ollie had moved on to Amy Barlow (Elle Mulvaney), and only Maggie herself knew a sickening secret: they’re actually cousins.
A brief love triangle erupted between Lauren and the unknowing kissing cousins, but the truth eventually outed, and Lauren and Ollie resumed their romance.
Next week, though, said romance faces further jeopardy.
See, Ollie has been offered a brilliant new job. Epic, right?!
Wrong. The job is in Brighton. The Brighton that’s on the other end of the country to Weatherfield. The Weatherfield where Lauren lives and works. We’re seeing the problem here, right?
Lauren, the sweet soul she is, masks her pain and suggests that Ollie take the job. It sounds amazing, and she’d never stand in the way of his career progression and happiness, would she?
So is that it? Is Ollie off? Will Lauren’s heart break? I guess we’ll see…
